Oscar winner Cuarón now masters TV

Published 12:24 pm, Friday, March 7, 2014

Intense sci-fi drama “Believe” has young Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) and her protector (Jake McLaughlin) constantly on the run from villains who hope to capitalize on her special powers.

Intense sci-fi drama “Believe” has young Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) and her protector (Jake McLaughlin) constantly on the run from villains who hope to capitalize on her special powers.

Photo: NBC

Oscar winner Cuarón now masters TV

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SAN ANTONIO — Fresh off his big Oscar win for “Gravity,” director Alfonso Cuarón now shows what he can do on the small screen.

His first TV venture, “Believe” on NBC, debuts Monday, and it, too, is something special — at least, that's the promise of the cinematically gorgeous, fast-paced and moving pilot, which was written and directed by Cuarón.

NBC will premiere the new hour, a collaboration between Cuarón and co-executive producers J. J. Abrams and Jonas Pate, at 9 p.m. Monday to take advantage of the network's strongest lead-in, “The Voice.” The drama settles into its actual time slot (8 p.m. Sundays) on March 16.

“Believe,” as you might expect, given that Cuarón and Abrams are at the helm, is science fiction — wrapped up in an emotional story with strong components of family and friendship.

“Even if we handle some supernatural elements,” Cuarón said at a recent gathering of TV critics, “there is a lot of tension through the whole thing. I think that is really, really, really what the core of the show is — the emotional one. Pretty much it's the story of a family.”

It centers on Bo (Johnny Sequoyah), a 10-year-old girl with special powers that include telekinesis and the abilities to control nature and see the future. Since she was born, she has had gifts she could neither understand nor control. But as she grows older, her powers have become stronger, and the threat from malevolent forces (led presumably by a manipulative power-monger played by Kyle MacLachlan), who would use her abilities to further their own ends, has grown more dangerous.

We see just how dangerous in the pilot's disturbing opening scene. During a kidnapping attempt, Bo's adoptive parents are forced into a car accident. Then they're brutally murdered.

With Bo's future in jeopardy, the girl's longtime protector, Milton (Delroy Lindo), turns to an unlikely source to keep her safe: Tate (Jake McLaughlin), a wrongfully imprisoned death row inmate who's grown understandably surly and distrustful during his incarceration.

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With a little help from Bo's friends, Tate is sprung moments before his execution so he can serve as her bodyguard on what promises to be a highly perilous but potentially extraordinary journey as they go on the run and interact with people in the cities they pass through.

In short, the show, in the vein of Abrams' “Fringe,” looks to be a combo of episodic procedural and long-term story arc.

What made Cuarón want to do television?

“First of all,” he joked, “I wanted to do something in which people were not floating.” That got a big laugh, even though it wasn't totally accurate. In the pilot, Bo does “float” via her powers of levitation.

“But seriously,” he said, “I found myself in a moment in 'Gravity' in which I had a window as I waited for the endless process of visual effects. ... I thought I didn't have the time to make a film, but maybe it would be great to do a TV show. ... I talked to J.J. and said, 'Hey, I have this idea.' He got excited immediately.

“I wanted to do something really exciting,” he added, “but, at the same time, something that would be highly emotional. This idea of having a girl that has a mystery and put it together with this other character, that they are like an odd couple ... that is not easy.”

Those “odd couple” moments are some of the most engaging in the pilot. They consist of wonderfully prickly repartee between the two head-strong leads — exchanges that are reminiscent of the Ryan and Tatum O'Neal's banter in “Paper Moon.”

“It comes across absolutely natural,” McLaughlin said. “I'm not coddling her. I'm a little bit more of a tough love, 'do as I say, not as I do' kind of guy. ... She's great because she gives it right back to me. That back and forth is where the fun stuff is.”

Sequoyah, in particular, with her adorable kewpie doll face and matter-of-fact manner, is inspired casting. A standout scene you won't soon forget has her character doing something startling and magical with birds to keep a villainess at bay.

Jeanne Jakle's column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she blogs at Jakle's Jacuzzi on mySA.com. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net.